| It's Christmas at the Stahlbaum home. There' s a huge
tree, and many guests arrive to celebrate with the family. Clara's
godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, makes magical toys.
He entertains the guests with two life-sized dolls that
dance around the room. Then he gives gifts to the children, and gives Clara
a very special gift of a nutcracker.
Her brother, Fritz, is jealous, and grabs the
nutcracker and it gets broken! Clara is very upset, so Herr Drosselmeyer
repairs the doll before handing it back to her..
Soon after, all the guests leave and the children go
to bed. Clara gets up in the night and goes downstairs to get her nutcracker
from under the tree.
She falls asleep there, and is transported into
Christmas fantasy where her nutcracker has grown to the size of a human.
When the Mouse King and the Nutcracker Prince battle, Clara
saves her Nutcracker Prince by throwing her slipper at the Mouse King
defeating him.
With the nasty Mouse King out of the way, Clara runs
to the Nutcracker Prince. When she kisses him, he turns into a human!
Then she and her Prince are whisked away through the
Enchanted Forest, where they see dancing snowflakes and other wonders. They
travel further to the Kingdom of the Sweets.
The
Kingdom of the Sweets
In the Kingdom of Sweets, Clara and the Prince behold
the beauty of the Sugarplum Fairy. She invites the couple to stay for a
while and enjoy the entertainment of her subjects. Clara and the prince
watch in awe as the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Sweets dance before them.
When the dancers are finished, Clara and her Prince
sail home in a magic sleigh made of ice and candy. On Christmas morning,
Clara wakes under the tree holding her nutcracker doll.
Fort Lauderdale Ballet |